County Clerk resigns

By CHARLES OWENS and SAMANTHA PERRY

PRINCETON — Long-time County Clerk Rudolph Jennings has notified the Mercer County Commission that he plans to retire from his post effective June 30.

The resignation follows a request made to the Secretary of State’s Office by the County Com-mission for an audit into the county’s election procedures.

“We have received a request from the Mercer County Commission to perform an audit on the election procedure in Mercer County, and we have agreed to do so,” Deputy Secretary of State and Director of Communications Sarah Bailey said. “It is simply an audit of the procedures, similar to audits we have done in the past in Kanawha and Jefferson counties.”

The process will include an “overall audit of the procedures, training manuals, equipment testing, election night procedures, assignments and that sort of thing,” Bailey said.

The request for the audit was received by the Secretary of State’s Office in a letter dated May 29, Bailey said.

County Commission President Joe Coburn was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

However, Commissioner Jay Mills confirmed Wednesday that Jennings had submitted his letter of retirement and that the retirement would be effective June 30.

“We got it late last week,” Mills said of the letter. “He’s going to retire at the end of the month.”

Messages left with Jennings by the Daily Telegraph were not immediately returned Wednes-day.

Mills said the commission will appoint a new County Clerk to fill the remaining two years of Jennings’ unexpired term. The commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 10 a.m. to discuss a replacement for Jennings.

“We have to appoint a replacement,” Mills said. “We want to do it quickly. Whoever is appointed would have to run in the next election.”

Mills said finding a replacement for Jennings won’t be easy.

“It’s going to be tough to find somebody, but we hope to find a replacement for him,” Mills said. “Rudy’s been good for the county for a long time. He’s done an excellent job for the county.”

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com